Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: dale hawerchuk

The Jets have missed the playoffs for three straight years, but that could change this year if those young stars start producing night in and night out.

"They’re young and they’re good, but the one thing you look at with the guys that sign those big-money deals for long terms, what they have in their backgrounds is consistency. That’s what [the Jets] need to do," Hawerchuk told ESPN.com in a recent telephone conversation. "That should translate into the team being consistent every night. Right now, the consistency is what they’d like to achieve. I always tell players, you have to have the whole package to get to the NHL, but you have to have consistency to be a real pro."

Having spent nine seasons in Winnipeg -- beginning when he won the Calder Memorial Trophy for the league’s top rookie in 1982 -- Hawerchuk knows that the brutally-cold locale is not for everyone. It does not have palm trees or a flashy nightlife to offer free agents, as other NHL cities do. Because of that, the organization’s ability to draft well is paramount, Hawerchuk thinks.

"Those good, young players will get the roots and the closeness to Winnipeg. As they get time in there, these guys will develop and they should start to turn corner, but that takes a bit of time," Hawerchuk said.

Dale Hawerchuk doesn’t understand why Evander Kane or any young players wouldn’t want to play for the Winnipeg Jets.

In Winnipeg as a guest coach at the Jets development camp, Hawerchuk, the former Jet and current head coach of the OHL's Barrie Colts says the place he made home for the first nine years of his NHL career remains an attractive destination, from what he can tell.

“As an organization you do your best to get your players to love it,” Hawerchuk said. “My short time being around here, they do everything first-class. So I do’t know why players wouldn’t love it.”

Rumours are a-swirlin’ - is it true that Nikolay Zherdev wants to don a Winnipeg Jets jersey (whatever that might look like) next year? The former fourth overall pick (2003, Columbus Blue Jackets) is said to have a desire to play for the Jets, according to a tidbit out of Russia (article in Russian - Google translate this puppy).

It was 20 years ago today that Buffalo lost a tough one, and by the narrowest of margins. The Calgary Flames came into town and beat the Sabres 5-4 at Memorial Auditorium. Rick Dudley was the Sabres head coach, and his assistant was a young and fiery up-and-comer named John Tortorella.

Sabres fans and media were questioning the toughness of Dale Hawerchuk and Pierre Turgeon and the worthiness of their $500,000 salaries. Buffalo media legend Ted Darling was in his final full season in the broadcast booth. There were captaincy issues as Mike Ramsey had just replaced Mike Foligno, who was traded to Toronto. The Sabres were an average team trodding along with 51 points near the end of January.

It so happens that there was another game that day, with a little bit more at stake, that was of interest to Buffalo fans, and for that matter people all over the world.